How to Change Screen Resolution on Android (With and Without Root)

Resolution of screen technically means how many pixels your screen will be able to display horizontally and vertically. For example, 1080 X 1920 resolution means your screen will be able to display 1080 pixels horizontally and 1920 pixels vertically.

Even though most Android devices today come with good resolution and pixel density, sometimes you may need to change resolution of your display for various reasons.

Gaming is the most common reason. Sometimes you may want to play a game, but it’s putting strain on your processor and causing your game to lag. You could then reduce the resolution or pixel density of your display to make it easier on your processor, allowing your game to work flawlessly on your device.

Fortunately, it’s super easy to change resolution or pixel density on Android devices. If you have rooted your phone, it will be as simple as downloading a resolution changer app from the Google Play Store to start changing resolution on the go.

You could use this app for checking out your device resolution and pixel density.

If your device is not rooted, no need to worry. You can easily change the resolution of your display, all you need is computer (Windows, Linux, or Mac) and data cable and you will be good to go.

Method 1 : Without Root

In this method, we will use Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to connect your device to a computer and issue commands to it. ADB is command line tool which lets you communicate with your device and is used for various actions like installing and debugging applications, changing resolution, etc.

But before you can start changing your device’s resolution using ADB, you have to enable USB debugging on your device from developer options. You can access developer options of your device by going to Settings -> System -> Developer options.

If you can not see Developer Options in your settings, don’t worry it’s very easy to enable it. Just go to Settings -> About phone and find the Build number option there as shown in screen below.

Now tap on Build number multiple times (7 times to be specific) and you will enable Developer Options for your device.

Now go to Developer options and scroll down and search for USB debugging option and enable it. Now you can connect your device to a computer using a data cable.

It’s time to take control of your phone from your computer. Open command line (terminal on Linux) and browse to the directory where you installed ADB as shown in screen below and issue command ‘adb devices’ and you should see your device in list.

Now issue the ‘adb shell’ command and you will be able to communicate with you android device. Before changing resolution, it is advisable to make a note of your current resolution and density. Issue ‘dumpsys display | grep mBaseDisplayInfo’ and note down your resolution and pixel density.

Now you can change the density or resolution by using the following commands. You can change pixel density number from range 120-600.

wm density DPI (Change display density)

wm size RES (Change display resolution)

Changes should be effective immediately, but if not, just reboot your device.

To give you an idea of the difference, here are a couple screenshots of my device after changing resolution and density.

wm density 200wm density 600

Method 2 : With Root

This whole process is much simpler if you have a rooted device. All you have to do is get one of the apps mentioned below and enter your desired resolution directly into the app, and app will handle the rest for you.

* NOMone Resolution Changer

Downloaded and used by over 100,000 users, this app provides a very easy to use interface for changing the density and resolution of your Android’s display.

Easy DPI Changer [Root]

Rated 4.5 by over 2300 users, it is very easy to change dpi and resolution by using this app on a rooted phone.

Screen Shift

This app is rated relatively low compared to its counterparts, but it offers the capability to change screen resolution based on the app which you are currently using. Try this app for automated screen resolution changes.

Wrapping Up

You can change your resolution settings as much as you want, so don’t be afraid to try out various combinations of densities and resolutions and decide on what’s best suited for your needs.

And don’t worry if the changed resolution makes other apps look bad. You can always revert to your default resolution settings when you’re done.

Do you have any favorite apps that put too much strain on your device? Have you tried changing your resolution to make them easier to run? Do you have any other tips or tricks to avoid overextending your device’s resources?

Tell us all about it and ask any questions in the comment section below!

About amit

Reader Interactions

Comments (1)

The without root instructions worked well for me. Thanks. However, now whenever I go to print anything, the print spooler crashes. When I restore the original density, the printing is fine again. Printing is important to me, any ideas?